Easy Homemade Chocolate Flan Cake

Flan is such an underrated dessert! Most people may be intimidated by this Mexican classic, but not anymore! This Easy Homemade Chocolate Flan Cake combines moist, rich chocolate cake and a light and sweet scratch-made flan on top!

I am so excited to be bringing you this recipe today!

Okay, so confession time: I’ve only had flan twice in my life, because generally speaking, I have a thing with texture. The first flan I experienced was only so-so, which gave it a bad rap in my eyes.

The second flan was at Red Iguana in Salt Lake City, Utah and it was INCREDIBLE. My friend Kalyn ordered a round of flan for the table and while at first I declined (from my prior not-so-fab-flan experience), a friend let me try a bite of hers and I was hooked. It was so delicious.

Ever since trying their heavenly, light-as-a-feather flan, I have been having flan thoughts on my mind. So this cake was a no brainer.

So, if you were like me and were once scorned by flan, give this a try and I promise you’ll be singing its praises in no time.

For everyone else: hi. I made you a Homemade Chocolate Flan Cake.

It’s perfect for those times when you can’t decide if you want rich, moist chocolate cake, or caramel-soaked vanilla flan. WHY NOT BOTH? I’m basically a magician, and any day, Vegas will be calling me for my own cooking show at the Hard Rock Hotel. I’M WAITING, VEGAS.

The cool thing about this cake is that it does something magical in the oven… by completely flipping the script – literally – going upside down. An acrobatic cake? Well, it is 2017 – what did you expect cakes to do in this new age?

After greasing the pan and pouring in your caramel sauce, you’ll make your chocolate cake batter and spread it all over the caramel sauce layer in the bottom of the Bundt pan (which, would be the top of the pan once flipped). Then you pour your flan liquid all over the chocolate cake layer, so the flan is on the bottom of the pan when flipped. Still with me? Good.

The cake bakes in a water bath which helps contribute to the flan’s silky-smooth texture. And during this baking process, the cake will float to the top of the pan (so, the bottom of the pan once flipped) and the flan will sink to the bottom of the pan (AKA, the top when flipped). PHEW. You with me?

So basically, when you bake and cool the flan and flip it out of the Bundt pan, it’ll look like this in all its mighty glory. Caramel, flan, chocolate cake. IT’S MAGIC.

Two things that make this magical Flan Cake extra special? Rodelle Pure Vanilla Extract and Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa. As their newest brand ambassador, I am thrilled to use Rodelle’s products because I love them so much! The flavor is superior, the quality is unprecedented, and the company’s values are awesome. Win, win, win!

The flan gets its impeccable flavor from Rodelle’s Pure Vanilla Extract, which imparts such a wonderful, pure, unadulterated vanilla flavor to the dessert. And the Gourmet Baking Cocoa offers such a complex richness since it’s a European Dutch Process cocoa.

Easy Homemade Chocolate Flan Cake

This Chocolate Flan Cake is an impressive dessert, boasting a rich chocolate cake bottom and a fluffy, silky-smooth vanilla flan on top!

Prep Time9hrs20mins

Cook Time1hr30mins

Total Time10hrs50mins

Course: Cakes/Cupcakes, Dessert

Cuisine: American, Dessert, Mexican

Servings: 12-16

Author: Hayley Parker, The Domestic Rebel

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

3/4cupcaramel sauce or ice cream topping

1/2cupall-purpose flour

1/3cupRodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa or other cocoa powder

1/2tspbaking soda

1/4tspsalt

4ozbittersweet chocolatefinely chopped

6Tbspunsalted butter

1/2cupwhole milk

1/2cupgranulated sugar

2large eggs

1tspRodelle Pure Vanilla Extract

FOR THE FLAN:

214 oz cans sweetened condensed milkNOT evaporated milk

2½cupswhole milk

6ouncescream cheese

6large eggs

4large egg yolks

1TbspRodelle Pure Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray. Pour the caramel sauce in the bottom of the Bundt pan evenly. Set aside briefly.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until blended. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe medium-size bowl, heat the chopped chocolate bar and butter together on HIGH power for 30 seconds. Stir, then heat again for another 30 seconds or until melted and smooth.

Whisk the sugar into the melted chocolate mixture, and pour the melted chocolate mixture into the stand mixer bowl with the dry ingredients. Beat slowly, then stream in the whole milk. Beat until combined, followed by adding the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Pour the chocolate cake batter into the prepared pan in an even layer.

In a large blender, add the flan ingredients and process for 1 minute or until thin and combined. Pour the flan mixture evenly over the chocolate cake batter in the pan; the pan will be very full. Carefully transfer the Bundt pan to a larger roasting pan and nestle it inside. Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it hits about halfway up the Bundt pan.

Bake for approx. 75-90 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the cake and through the flan comes out clean. Cool completely, then refrigerate for at LEAST 8 hours, preferably overnight. This is MANDATORY.

Just before serving, put the Bundt pan back into the roasting pan and add about 1-2 inches of hot tap water. Let sit in the water for about 1-2 minutes. Take a platter or cake stand and flip it upside down on top of the Bundt pan. Working quickly and carefully, invert the Bundt pan onto the cake stand/platter (whichever you're using) and let set for a second so all the caramel drips onto the flan cake. Remove the Bundt pan.

Serve while cold and store leftovers covered in the fridge. Spoon any extra caramel in the Bundt pan over the top of the flan.

This Homemade Chocolate Flan Cake would be excellent for a summer potluck or BBQ! The cold, smooth flan atop the moist and fluffy chocolate cake would be extra delish with a scoop of ice cream served with it!

For more information on Rodelle, be sure to visit their website, and check the #madewithrodelle hashtag on social media accounts to get tips, recipes, and more!

Have a super sweet day!

xo, Hayley

In the interest of full disclosure, I am the newest brand ambassador for Rodelle. All opinions are 100% my own and I was compensated for this post. Thank you to the brands that help keep my website afloat!

Comments

One of these days I am going to make this. However my comment is High Praise For Rodelle’s Cocoa!!! I found it at Costco and grabbed it because it was large and I do a LOT of baking from Thanksgiving through Christmas (this includes at least 3 chocolate pound cakes and a few brownie batches) I have nothing but praise for this cocoa! The first time I made brownies with it my husband wanted to know if I had a new recipe! (I have used the same recipe since 1978) The only change was the cocoa. It makes everything better. I went back to Costco in January to get more and it was sold out. (they bring it in during October and when it is gone, it’s gone) So when it showed up again around the end of October that year I bought 3 bags, and did that again this past October. This is amazing stuff. I recommend it to all my friends who love to bake!!!

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About me

Welcome to The Domestic Rebel! My name is Hayley and I am the 28-year old writer, photographer, recipe developer, taste-tester and creator of this blog. I’m so glad you’ve stopped by my little slice of sprinkly, butter-laden heaven on the interwebs. If it wasn’t apparent, I like to bake… a lot. Read More…